International Plant Trek- Shanghai, China

Shanghai, China

Last summer, the China LGOs visited us in Boston. It was one of the highlights of the summer program getting to host them. In March, we had the opportunity to go and visit them in Shanghai.

The flight over was long but it makes a world of difference traveling with a big group of friends. Anytime during the trip we had to wait somewhere or do the stuff that is typically pretty annoying on vacations, it was a blast because you had 50 other fun-loving folks to chat with.

One of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University students greeted us at the airport and took us to our hotel. That evening the CLGOs hosted a big Chinese dinner with more than you could ever eat served family style. It was interesting eating ‘real’ Chinese food- not our Americanized version.

The next day we split up in groups and had tour guides that took us through the city. We visited the Shanghai Museum, had another impressive lunch, and the Yu Yuan Gardens. I unfortunately just had to get one more picture (at least the picture is pretty good!) and ended up getting four of us lost from the group. It was dark, none of us spoke mandarin, we didn’t have cell phones, or a map. We problem solved and got ourselves to the next stop, which was seeing the Bund at night. We never connected with the group but we did manage to get ourselves home!

Shanghai Museum

Yummy chicken heads for lunch

Yu Yuan Gardens

The pic that got us lost- sorry guys!!

The Bund at night

Also while in China we visited a Nike distribution center and one of Cisco’s supplier factories. Everything they showed us looked anything you might see in America- super clean, productive, and positive work environments.

Marie at the Nike distribution center

Our last night in China, the CLGOs took us to Oriental Pearl Tower (Dongfang Mingzhu) for dinner. It was over the top!

 

Brad flew into Shanghai a couple days late because of a friend’s wedding he was in, but he caught up on the sights while we toured the plants. The last day in Shanghai we got to do a little sightseeing together.

Before we knew it, it was time to fly to Japan!

Photo album of the trip